1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to airbag apparatuses for vehicles and, more particularly, to an airbag apparatus which is installed in a roof of a vehicle so that when a vehicle collision occurs, an airbag is deployed to protect a passenger.
2. Description of Related Art
Hitherto, development of airbag apparatuses for vehicles has been focused on protecting front seat passengers.
However, when a vehicle is involved in a frontal collision, a rear seat passenger that is not wearing a safety belt may injure his/her head as a result of colliding with the head of a passenger in the front seat or with the back of the front seat. Taking into account the fact that the percentage of rear seat passengers who wear safety belts is much lower than that of front seat passengers, the development of airbag apparatuses that protect rear seat passengers is more aggressively required.
As shown in FIG. 5, in consideration of the above facts, an airbag apparatus of a vehicle for protecting a rear seat passenger was proposed. This conventional airbag apparatus is installed in space between a roof panel 10 and a headliner 20 of the vehicle. When a vehicle collision occurs, a cushion 30 tears the headliner 20, protrudes outs of the headliner 20, and then is deployed into the space between the front seat and the rear seat passenger.
However, in the conventional airbag apparatus, the cushion 30 is instantaneously inflated just in front of the face of a passenger 40. As a result, the head or neck of the passenger 40 may be injured by the cushion 30 that is inflated at high pressure.
The information disclosed in this Background of the Invention section is only for enhancement of understanding of the general background of the invention and should not be taken as an acknowledgement or any form of suggestion that this information forms the prior art already known to a person skilled in the art.